Monday, February 11, 2008

Preface: I was away in Paris for work over the weekend, sitting on my own in a hotel room leads to a flurry of posting ideas. Rather than store them up here they are in their abridged version.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me (Fred Allen 1894-1956)

Have you ever noticed how annoying Irish people are when abroad? I'm not referring to the beer swilling young lads looking for a burrow in which to nestle the gopher or the crowds of mickey dodgers who flock to Lourdes, just the Irish in general. Time and time again over the weekend I felt like pulling some Dube wearing freak out of a café to give him a good hiding. Why do people think speaking English in an ‘Allo ‘Allo accent counts as an attempt at French?

Jimmy Carter as President is like Truman Capote marrying Dolly Parton. The job is just too big for him. (Rich Little 1938-)

Dolly Parton’s playing Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. Could we chip in together to buy tickets just to get it sold out. If I hear the ad and her ask Ireland to “get the party started” one more time I’m likely to commit a mortal sin.

Doesn’t Joe Duffy and Liveline epitomise all that is bad about Irish society? Have you ever heard such a pile of shite come out of the radio of a afternoon? How can you take a man seriously as the voice of the people when he earns a couple of hundred grand a year and write for The Mail On Sunday?

Today is the word for winners and tomorrow is the word for losers (Robert Kiyaosaki 1947 -)

Why do we as a nation accept defeat so easily? On Saturday the rugby team got beaten in a game they should have won. The reaction from the press “ah well they gave it a lash” – me bollix they still lost, history won’t have a little star beside it saying*But sure didn’t Ireland give it a right lash

The tragedy, the true catastrophe, is that humanity continues (Louis Wolfson 1912-2007)

Why do we wear tragic events as a badge of honour? I don’t know if you’re into sport, well I know most of your aren’t but did you notice how much coverage the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster garnered. It was a terrible accident that robbed the world not only of 8 great footballers but also, as is often overlooked, 23 families of loved ones. The coverage of the disaster went on for two weeks as if the event happened last year. It’s almost become a battle between various groups of sporting fans as if to say “well you’ll never have what we have because you didn’t endure a Munich/Hillsborough/Bradford….."

4 comments:

I agree with you a lot on the last bit Tib. I thought all the coverage last week was sort of odd, I understand that it was tragic at the time, but you don't see other natural disasters/accidents/murders/ etc. remembered like that...

I don't know if this is one of those things I say that I shouldn't but I find the Stardust fire the same, re excess coverage. But not as bad as Diana and 911, neither of which needed an anniversary in the last 10/6 years because they haven't been out of the news for a second.

Irish abroad - hadn't noticed really.

Dolly - I can take her or leave her.

Joe - don't know what to make of him. He could do with new glasses.

France (que spitting sound) - I have a dream....that one day France will lose miserably at rugby and football; people will no longer visit the country in droves, all over the world schools will stop teaching French and the fashion houses will move to Spain. Only 2 millennia after that might their heads get down to normal human levels.

I think every country has the people where you hang your head in shame when you're overseas. I don't go into city center in the summertime, as I'd get the inevitable "How long are you staying?" ("Well, been here 8 years, guess I'll hang around for a bit.")

I have a dear friend who wants me to become fluent in Irish, just so he and I can walk through the center of Dublin speaking it, and no one would hear our accents.

But dealing with Americans here, we just hear the accent and it's so brash! (Do I sound like that to you all?) Of course, it comes in handy going through customs at the airport cause then we just talk loudly and they don't even look at our bags.

Irish abroad Tib, as loud as English people here? Whoops, I've said it.

I, similarly am likely to commit a mortal sin with Dolly Parton. That is what you said, right?

As for Joe, yeah but he's really easy to lampoon.

Ireland giving a lash? Post to follow.

And as for the remembering of tragedies I think there are far too many people who ear tham as a badge of honour and not just in sport. People, often who have no connection to the event itself, keen and moan on the anointed day as if part of some great national hysteria. I'll readily admit to doing said things when I was younger and less cynical.

I signed the 9/11 book of condolence (as I did the one for Beslan though), attended a memorial mass for Omagh and..... Did put flowers outside the English embassy when Diana died. I have no idea how that happened.